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Wreck of USS Turner (DD-648)

USA / New Jersey / Highlands /
 Second World War 1939-1945, military, shipwreck, destroyer (ship), draw only border, United States Navy, mass grave

Laid down at Federal Shipbuilding in Kearny, NJ as a Gleaves Class Destroyer in November 1942, the USS Turner commissioned into active US Navy service on April 15th, 1943 as a member of the US Atlantic Fleet.

Spending the first few months of her active service in the unsung but vital role of a Convoy Escort, the Turner sailed as far East as French Morocco and Gibraltar and as far South as Cuba escorting both Navy and Merchant ships. Her time crossing the Atlantic was not without incident, as the Turner attacked two U-Boats in two separate incidents, but both times failed to have a confirmed kill notched on her record. After spending several days in Brooklyn Navy Yard under overhaul in November 1943 the Turner set out on her third Transatlantic crossing which she completed successfully on January 2nd, 1944 upon her return with empty merchant ships to New York.

Dropping anchor at this location in the late evening, the Turner and fellow ships of her convoy awaited orders to proceed into New York Harbor. The quiet routine of the nights operation was shattered early in the morning of January 3rd when several explosions rumbled through the hull of the Turner, followed by a large explosion which lit up the night. Crews raced to their damage control stations and attempted to quell the flames and check the water rushing into the ship from the holes punched in her hull, but were greeted by dozens of smaller explosions and detonating ammunition from her rear magazines. As other ships in the area closed in to lend assistance to the stricken Destroyer, another large explosion rattled the ship and caused her to list past 16 degrees to Starboard as well as knocking out her engine room.

Now powerless, aflame and listing, the Turner was ordered abandoned before she sank or exploded, or both. As her crews made their way over the side into the frigid Atlantic where they were picked up by waiting ships, the Turner was split in half by another large explosion, likely from her aft 5-inch magazines at 0750hrs. The Destroyer rolled over and sank her at this location at 0827hrs on January 5th, 1944 taking 138 of her crew with her to the bottom.

Today the wreck of the USS Turner is occasionally visited as a dive site, but efforts have been put underway to have its wreck belatedly declared a Military Cemetery, especially after recent channel dredging operations came very close to having the wreck destroyed to improve the shipping lane.

www.navsource.org/archives/05/648.htm
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Coordinates:   40°29'26"N   73°52'10"W
This article was last modified 3 years ago